I'm matching the brilliant black color on all of the chrome parts of my black GC2012 (grill, side chrome pieces, rear brow, ect.) and was wondering how i could take off just the chrome part of the rear brow. want to paint it off the car and be able to put it back on just as easy. Does anyone know how to pry it off without any problems then put it back on??

Let me know thanks guys. Will post pics when I'm all done with the new mods!

There are a handful of clips on the top and bottom that need to be popped out. There are also up to five 3M adhesive patches.

1. Open your liftgate partway (stop the power liftgate going up, then stop it again going down to make it hold at a comfortable height) so you can attack from the bottom. You don't want to access from the top because you'll scratch your body paint.

2. The chrome strip sits on a black plastic bracket, which itself is bolted to the liftgate, that houses the camera and lock button wiring. You are prying the chrome strip off of the black bracket, which stays in place.

3. Start at a bottom corner and attack from the bottom of the liftgate looking toward the spoiler. I didn't have a trim stick, so I used a long flathead screwdriver. Slide it in between the bottom edge of the chrome strip and the long black plastic triangle. Do not put your screwdriver against the body, always between the chrome piece and black plastic.

4. See my pictures below of the underside of the strip - there are a bunch of little tabs to pop, I found it easiest to use a decent-sized flathead, put the blade near a tab, and twist 90 degrees to pop them one at a time.

5. Viewing from the bottom, so the tabs alternate near-far-near going across. Get a screwdriver with a decent length so you can put your blade next to the top tabs and twist.

6. If you encounter adhesive, use the flathead like a chisel and poke at it until it gives. You'll see in my first pic the gray squares where I put on 3M tape reattaching my painted brow. When you remove them, there are five total, although all may not have stuck at the factory. You can also use the raised areas where the tape is attached as a good place to twist your screwdriver and pop the tabs.

7. Go slowly, working toward the center from each side. It will make loud pops, but it's a sturdy piece of chrome painted plastic.

8. The lock button is separate and sits on a rubber gasket thing. Don't lose it, you need to get it painted and then reinstall before reattaching your bracket.

Below you'll see some pictures of my installation of my brow strip (that Scott did a great job painting). I'll post more pics of the final product later, but here's the install that I just did about an hour ago, i.e. at night in my garage, hence the lack of good pictures.

I also photographed the brow strip removed so you can see the tabs and adhesive points. My dealer gave me a scratched up one that I plasti-dipped and installed on my car while Scott worked on my paint job. That's the standalone strip you see in the pictures.

I found I could remove my OEM chrome rear license plate brow without any tools at all! I started in the middle and just used my fingers to gently pull it right off!

Just find the crevice between the black plastic mounting bracket and the chrome brow and place the tips of your fingers in between them. Gently push your fingertips up & in and pull from the middle outwards. Once you have separated the brow from it's plactic mounting bracket slightly it will become easier for the plastic tabs to pop out. Go slowly working from the middle bottom outward. The brow is very flexible so it won't break if you go slow and apply finger pressure evenly!

For those of you who want to replace your chrome OEM brow w/a painted "Altitude Edition" one I've found that you don't have to order the more expensive part w/backup camera, if you have that feature, because you will only have to swap out the painted brow and it's color matching liftgate glass botton, which is held in place by the mounted brow & can be pulled right off and swapped for a painted one after you remove the brow.

The brows are all the same regardless of backup camera or not! The mounting brackets can be different depending on if you have a backup camera or not. If you just "pop off" the chrome part leaving the underlying black plastic mounting bracket in place, you can now swap the chrome liftgate glass botton with a painted one and then you can "pop in" a painted brow with no trim removal required!

I figured I'd write a little how to for the removal of the chrome piece on the lift gate for all those interested. I'm having mine smoothed and painted to finish my debadging look. Plus, I dislike that piece of chrome for some reason. I think it breaks up the back to much. I like the rest of the chrome, just not this piece lol. I'm hoping for Friday having the complete piece installed, and I will update and post pictures then.

I DID IT. Kind of a pain. Took me an hour and 15 minutes total. Bad news and kind of embarrassing, I removed the back up camera with the chrome piece and didn't realize it until I was completely done. So I get to do this all over again to get the camera back in. Brilliant Black in place of chrome back there looks great!!!!!